Into The Sky
by baneofJean
Summary: Magneto's reflection on his life, the mistakes he thinks he's made the things he wished would have gone different. Mainly written to show that Magneto is NOT evil, he's just trying to survive.


Little one-shot, I was thinking about Magneto and how everyone sees him as this terrible, evil being. He isn't.

Magneto is _not_ evil.

Anyone who says he is is beyond simple-minded. Magneto is a man whose life has forced him to make decisions he otherwise would not have made. Magneto is a good man, but sometimes bad things- _very_ bad things happen to good people.

This is sorta' my take on an Evo version of Mags life, in form of his reflecting back on it, so it's mostly emoting, since Mags knows what happened to him, I'm not going to completely retell the story, I just want his reflection on it. The actual beginning is based off the comics, from there on it's as much my own as fan fiction can be

This starts off with a conversation with Magda, about five years after they were liberated, since Evo moved it so that Magneto was about 9ish when Wolvie and the Cap rescued him, that'd make him around 14

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Two children lay in the grass side-by-side, eating their stolen meal, and looking at the gray, cloudy sky. The boy had white-gray hair, and the girl had long, dark auburn hair- their eyes were full of happiness, but neither of them were the eyes of someone who has lived only fourteen years. Both these so-called "children" had eyes that had seen the worst the world had to offer. Their bodies had survived- _they_ had survived.

They were beyond it now, past it. They had lived on their own together for five years, and they planned to spend forever together. But forever is an awfully long time- and it seems so much shorter when you look at it from fourteen...

The girl smiled mischievously and poked the boy playfully in the ribs. "What if a pack of wolves is after us?"

"I'd chase them away." The boy said simply, smiling. An old game, because the girl delighted in it- wanted to hear him renew his promise of protection over and over.

"What if... a giant eagle came down from the sky and took me away?"

"I'd climb into the sky and take you back."

"All the way into the sky?"

"All the way into the sky."

- - - - - -

Eric Lenshurr awoke with tears in the corners of his eyes. "Magda." He whispered to the air beside him, the empty pillow that sat next to him. He closed his eyes for a moment, and flames danced behind them, screams echoed in his ears. To drown out the sound he stood, and pressed 'play'; Tchaikovsky's symphonies filled the room.

Below him the city that never sleeps was preparing itself for another day- another day of pain, another day of suffering, another day of failures, and little hurts to pile upon yesterdays wounds.

Eric Lenshurr put water on his small stove-top to boil, and flipped on the news; he didn't watch it, he knew what was happening. He knew that people were killing each other, they always were. Every day brought another story about a vicious betrayal, and an even more vicious murder, rape, shooting, bombing, attack; it went on and on. "No peace." He said to his boiling water as the familiar whistling filled his kitchen/dining area.

Without thought, his body simply following the routine set out for it, he poured the water into a mug, and put a tea bag into it. Eric preferred tea in the morning to coffee; he found it calmed him, prepared him for the day ahead.

He was no longer a teacher of _human_ students- but perhaps this was even worse. Trying to form four men- rather three barely legal boys, and one man (and that's debatable)- into a fighting team that could lead the world into a new era was next to impossible.

Eric had developed a certain pride about his ability to control magnetism, he was different, yes- but this difference made him better, not worse. Charles had never understood that, that was his problem. "Charles." Eric took a shower, cleaned off yesterday's dirt.

He put on the clothes he had grabbed out of his drawers, and then put on the most important part of his wardrobe: his helmet. With that helmet Eric Lensherr ceased to exist, now Eric Lensherr was Magneto.

But, despite what Magneto wanted, even Magneto had emotions, even Magneto had weaknesses. Next to his helmet sat a picture of a little boy and girl- one with white hair, the other with deep brown. They were smiling, happy.

Magneto looked at the picture, as he did every morning- thought about his children. He hadn't meant to make everything so bad. No, he wanted to give his children a better life than he had- he had planned to give them everything. "But plans don't always go as planned." He smiled mirthlessly, and left his home- the only way Magneto would: he flew.

Even after all these years Magneto still loved flying. He just wished he had had the ability when he needed it- or that he could have learned control quickly enough to prevent his life from breaking apart. Maybe he could have warned Magda about what had happened to him, maybe if she had known; maybe then it would have been all right...

Maybe then he wouldn't have first seen his younger children- his second chance- after three years of searching. Even when he found them life wasn't perfect- or it was almost perfect for a few years. _Eric_ gave them everything, anything that was within his power to get was theirs. He told them a little bit about their mother, but not too much: because too much was-is too painful.

And then he had locked Wanda- who could have been Magda's sister- away. He was afraid, hadn't known how to deal with her- "she didn't know how to deal with her." It seemed simple, he would lock her away for a few years, and then retrieve her when she was calmer, more controlled... but it didn't quite work out that way.

He landed softly outside the warehouse that was the Acolyte headquarters. He palmed the FINGERPRINT THINGY, it beeped happily, and the door's locks clicked open. Magneto pushed open the doors, and they swung closed behind him.

He was greeted with the sight of his "ultimate" team drinking huge cups of coffee, and glaring at whatever was in front of them. "Get up."

No one got up, they just looked at him blankly- none of them possessed coherent enough thoughts at the moment to obey orders. Sabertooth actually growled, Magneto pulled his chair out from under him.

"Now get up, and get to work!" He practically roared, although he had not meant to yell... no, but then, he hadn't meant a lot of things.

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hmm, that ended up being darker, and a little more repetitive then I meant it to be, but I kinda' like it, anyway.

Tell me what you think, please!

Random notes:

Logistically speaking Wanda and Pietro should be, like 50, not 15. But, one must suspend disbelief when dealing with myths and comics

I believe in the comics they say Magneto was in Auschwitz, but since he was rescued by Wolvie that must be incorrect- b/c Auschwitz was liberated by the Russians, so I think that he was probably in Buchenwald, or Dachau, b/c it is very clear that he was in one of the worst, and (if I remember correctly) Buchenwald/Dachau were liberated by U.S.(/British/Canadian??) soldiers, so Wolvie and the Cap could've been there.

Magneto and Magda should be speaking in German, but I didn't feel like it, and all the translations would have to be right there anyway, so it'd be really pointless.

_"They came for the communists, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a communist;_

_They came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a socialist;_

_They came for the union leaders, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a union leader;_

_They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew._

_Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me."_

Martin Niemoller, 1892-1984


End file.
